Petroleum Building

Once the home of the biggest oilman’s club in the world, the
historic Petroleum Building in Denver recently completed upgrades to
replace obsolete and inefficient systems.

Owners of the
building sought to enhance occupany rates and renew leases by creating
a healthy, comfortable, productive, safe and environmentally
considerate place to work. The renovations restored the HVAC system to
its original intended design and added computerized controls and
tracking. Key benefits of the improvements are reduced energy use and
more flexibility to address tenant comfort issues. The upgrades are
expected to provide $117,000 in annual energy and operating cost savings.

Challenge

The Petroleum Building challenges were twofold. The owners were 100
percent reliant on their engineer to run the entirely manual HVAC
system, leaving the building vulnerable in his absence -- nor was the
system easily adaptable to changing weather. The operator could choose
to heat or to cool the building, but could not do both in different
areas at the same time. This created temperature issues, particularly
during seasonal transitions.

Building owner objectives
were to increase efficiency and reduce costs, allow more flexibility
to maximize tenant comfort, and upgrade to an automated system with
computerized controls and tracking that could be run by anyone.

Solution

A Trane Turnkey Contracting solution backed by a Performance
Guarantee allowed owners of the Petroleum Building to leverage
efficiencies to finance the initial renovation investment. A detailed
site survey was completed, historical energy billing data gathered,
and the information was benchmarked against other relevant buildings
to validate the savings potential of energy conservation
measures.

To reduce cost and increase efficiency, the
temperature controls were overhauled, valves and pumps replaced, and
variable frequency drives and piping modifications completed. A boiler
plant was added to replace the expensive city steam supply and the
chiller was also replaced. Lighting retrofits were installed to
improve quality and reduce electrical usage.

A building
automation system (BAS) with direct digital controls ensures
consistent lighting and effective temperature control thoughout the
building. With the BAS, the building engineer has the ability to
respond to alarms, view reports and evaluate trends.

A
Trane Scheduled Service Agreement prolongs the useful life of the
systems, reducing costly repairs and improving performance. This
assures building owners that all required maintenance is being
performed as scheduled to protect their long-term investment.

Results

Solid building improvements were performed to overcome the
challenges facing the Petroleum Building. The up-front building
improvements were financed with energy and operating cost reductions,
expected to save $117,000 annually, with an eleven-year payback.
Additional operating and maintenance savings provide significant
value, while also retaining and extending tenants.

"So far the results are good," said Tim Borst, building
co-owner. "Our system has been restored to its original design.
With the computerized controls we have more heating and cooling
flexibility, and no longer need to rely solely on our engineer to
manually control everything. We are continuing to monitor our
performance and adjusting as needed."

About Petroleum Building

About the Petroleum Building

When it opened in 1957,
the Petroleum Building was Denver’s tallest building and housed the
biggest oilman’s club in the world with 1,100 members. It was a
mid-century modernist high-rise with austere lines designed by Denver
architect Charles Strong. The oil and gas industry was booming in the
Rocky Mountain region, and Denver was the regional oil capital. At one
time, thirty-three oil companies had offices in the building. Built to
last, the building boasts two bomb-resistant stairways and a heavily
reinforced basement.